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East Perth Football Club is excited to announce that Tom North has signed with the Royals.Tom is a 184cm versatile midfielder from Mitcham, Victoria who was drafted to Fremantle with pick 65 in the 2017 AFL Draft out of the Eastern Ranges (VIC).Tom played 28 WAFL League Matches over 2 seasons for Peel while on Fremantle’s AFL List before being delisted at the end of the 2019 AFL Season without playing an AFL match.The classy left footer has spent time with Nightcliff (AFLNT) and Carlton (VFL) over the last 2 seasons and will make his return to the WAFL in season 2023 alongside good mates Scott Jones and Mitchell Crowden at the Royals.‘My main reason on coming to East Perth was to play with my good mates, Scott Jones and Mitch Corwden.’ North said‘I'm grateful for the opportunity and very excited to wear the jumper of a Proud Club.’On the Clubs newest recruit, Football Manager Warren Parker said. ‘We are excited to have Tom join the Royals. Tom is clean below his knees, uses the ball well and brings experience and versatility to the group'.Tom has started training with the Seniors since Monday night, as we look to start the WAFL Season off on Good Friday (7 April 2023).

Looks like the Royals are loading up with midfielders but we are lacking key forwards

Yeah Chaddy, mids wasn't one of a big issue although depending how he uses the ball might perhaps separate him from those amass possessions but fail to use it effectively.

I still think that we have nearly enough forwards if the ball is delivered properly and not in a chaos fashion.

Grump wrote:

Yeah Chaddy, mids wasn't one of a big issue although depending how he uses the ball might perhaps separate him from those amass possessions but fail to use it effectively.

I still think that we have nearly enough forwards if the ball is delivered properly and not in a chaos fashion.

Ball use was a issue last year.We had more inside fifties lin certain games last year and lost games.No good having good key forwards if we don't improve in this area.

I don.t think Sebit Kuek,who kicked 16 goals in 5 games before he was recruited by the Dorkers,was complaining about the ball use.Since Glen Bartlett won the goal kicking in the early nineties,the league side has not had 1 decent home grown key forward,and the football department has once again failed to recruit one outside the club,which has been a constant theme for the 4 years after the alignment,and i think we will  once again struggle to kick 10 goals a game.

royallucky wrote:

I don.t think Sebit Kuek,who kicked 16 goals in 5 games before he was recruited by the Dorkers,was complaining about the ball use.Since Glen Bartlett won the goal kicking in the early nineties,the league side has not had 1 decent home grown key forward,and the football department has once again failed to recruit one outside the club,which has been a constant theme for the 4 years after the alignment,and i think we will  once again struggle to kick 10 goals a game.

Sebit had a huge leap which made the ball use look good at times .You only have to look at the game Bono kicked four against Perth it was because of good ball use. not pack marks Medhat will look good with good ball use but you can't bomb it in like we did at times last year.If we don't improve our ball movement into the forward line it won't matter who we have in the forward line.

chaddy22 wrote:

royallucky wrote:

I don.t think Sebit Kuek,who kicked 16 goals in 5 games before he was recruited by the Dorkers,was complaining about the ball use.Since Glen Bartlett won the goal kicking in the early nineties,the league side has not had 1 decent home grown key forward,and the football department has once again failed to recruit one outside the club,which has been a constant theme for the 4 years after the alignment,and i think we will  once again struggle to kick 10 goals a game.

Sebit had a huge leap which made the ball use look good at times .You only have to look at the game Bono kicked four against Perth it was because of good ball use. not pack marks Medhat will look good with good ball use but you can't bomb it in like we did at times last year.If we don't improve our ball movement into the forward line it won't matter who we have in the forward line.

I don.t think you quite get it,key forwards are born and  not made,and Medhat is not a key forward,he,s ok playing in a pocket or flank being marked by a second or 3rd best defending opponent.

Recruiting a tall forward that provides a focal point for others to feed off is always the prize but they're rare and usually unavailable given the rest of the pack does whatever they can to retain them.

I understand the lack of faith in Medhat, Graham, Schofield and even Bonomelli to be able kick a big score but if our mids can get rid of the junk possessions and deliver the ball to advantage then perhaps we can kick enough to win games. This is also dependent on our backs being able restrict the opposition forwards. EF look to have the forward line that will seriously stretch our backs if we cannot control the centre area.

Before the Dorkers made their strange mid season decision,the Sebit led forward line amassed 67 goals in 5 games at an average  of 13 majors,and the side was  functioning very well where it was benefiting from the rare occasion of having a decent focal point.In the 13 games without Sebit the side managed 103 goals at an average of around 8 a game and those stats speak for themselves.                                                                                                                                                                                               The following week after Sebits departure we played the Joondaloopians,where we played qiuite well,and had 9 more inside fifties,but went down by a couple of goals and did not get reward for effort on the scoreboard.The last game of the season against the Sharks,the side won plenty of the ball,but on a fine day kicked a dismal 3 goals,and I don't know if the addition of ex Tiger Palfrey is enough to cure the scoring woes.